Lucky Dog
by Delete This User Guys
Summary: UPDATED. After being captured and tortured for months, will rescue be enough to truly save a damaged Ed? Better than it sounds! Focuses on Ed, Roy, and Izumi. No pairings. Rated T for strong violence, torture, death, and language. Please review!
1. Captive

Co-written by LadyWolf.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

This story has a lot of Ed torture. If that bothers you, don't read. The main characters are Ed, Roy, and Izumi. Al is not in this at all. The poem at the end of chapter two is from "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan. The first chapter has been edited from what was first posted. We will continue updating as long as we keep getting reviews! There are no intentional pairings.

* * *

Ed stood shakily and turned to face the entrance of the alley where his assailant readily stood. "I'm waiting Edward." The man rose his hand in a "_come get me_" fashion and Ed all too eagerly rose to the challenge. Clapping his hands together he hit the ground and smiled as dirt rose beneath the man's feet in spikes, impaling him. He even started to laugh as the man's body fell to ground. But his amusement turned to dismay as the stranger stood easily and turned to him, pure hate boiling in those cold blue eyes. 

"That wasn't very nice Edward." The stranger rose his hands and threw them forward, shooting spikes at Ed's head. The alchemist dove for cover behind trash bins but one of the spikes still hit his foot, handicapping him for the moment. He swore, biting his lip, forcing the spike out with a push of his hand. He groaned and leaned back against the alley wall, thinking of his options as fast as his exhausted mind could manage. "Damn you Mustang," he muttered under his breath, cursing his superior for correctly having correctly pointed out that he should have gotten more sleep the night before.  
And then he felt it. The spikes were more than a nuisance, they were poisonous. The drug flooded into his mind causing more unbelievable drowsiness. He could barely get himself up, though trying was a waste of time as the stranger appeared, stepping up to him like a death sentence. The man smiled and leaned forward, his eyes eagerly searching Ed's face as the boy clapped his hands together, ready to pound this man into oblivion.

He never got the chance. The man immediately grabbed his arms, twisting them at unbelievably painful extremes. "I'm afraid I can't let you get away this time." the man pulled out a knife and turning it at an interesting level, began to cut down into Ed's shoulder. Ed squealed, writhing as the slow process dismembered his automail. He inhaled through clenched teeth, biting his tongue to distract himself. Dread creeped its way into his mind. The man continued his escapade until the metal arm fell to the ground with a clang.

"What the fuck do you want?" Ed panted it out with as much loathing as his hoarse voice could allow him.

"What do you think you silly boy?" The man bent down, not letting go of Ed's collar, and grabbed the arm. He hefted it thoughtfully and leaning back, he smacked Ed with it. The metal fingers scraped against the pale cheek and tore a strand of his golden hair out. The man laughed as Ed started his profanity, dealing a final swift blow that made the boy see black.

* * *

He hadn't slept for days. Just lying still hurt his stomach, and sitting was worse. So in the end he had resorted to huddling on the cold steel ground, curled up in a ball, gripping his stomach with one arm as he fought the tears. He tried so hard not to picture the millitary, out there looking for him, and Winry, sleeping calmly in her own soft bed, probably unaware of his plight. He felt once more the ache that had made him go on this mission in the first place. He had tried to fix Al, to bring him back. Ed felt nauseous as he thought of the mangled and bloody lifeless form his attempt had gained him. The words of his teacher echoed in his mind, _"You're going to try and correct a mistake by making another one?" _For the first time since he had been in this horrid place he let the tears slip through his eyes. Bitterly he wondered how many times in his life he had stepped on God's toes…

* * *

More weeks passed and the pain didn't cease. Ed had been resilient, letting the man beat him and cut him, making no sounds, determined to hide his agony. He had almost succeeded but his torturer was merciless. The man would wake him with a brutal kick and then head over to the table to reveal what today's torture would be. And this day was no different. The man returned, his cold eyes studying his captive. But now, he only held a marker. "I never told you I was an alchemist, did I?" 

Ed fought the collar around his neck, clawing at it with blood-ridden fingers. He had been the target of alchemy before. He shuddered at the thought of laboratory 5 and his eyes filled with angry tears. He would have been furious if he had any pride left, but now survival was his only thought."No.. Stay back!" He gave up on the collar and tried crawling with his injured arm, dragging himself away as the man approached again. Ed fought with what strength he could gather to his arm, trembling in panic and hyperventilating from the fear. The man didn't say anything, just gave him that famously disturbing smile, bending down and holding his arm back while he drew the circle on the pale forehead.

Ed jolted his head back, trying to mess up the lines, but to no avail. The man clearly anticipated his moves and expertly drew the marker back, leaving no smudges or mistakes. Holding the boys head in one vise-like hand, he finished and touched the lines. Ed's cries had to be forced hard out of vocal chords worn thin by screams this past month. He could barely hear himself. Yet he couldn't stop. The pain from the circle had breached every boundary of tolerance and now had to force their way out of him by whatever means necessary. The more it hurt the more his instincts made him struggle, and the more he struggled the more it hurt, bringing everything back in a full cycle of torment.

Finally, the man grew tired of so easily hurting his prisoner. He withdrew to grab a more crude weapon. He picked his favorite: a dull, carving knife. Ed panted, twisting on the floor. Every part of him ached. And the man wasn't finished, was coming to hurt him more.

"_Please_...Please don't-" Ed made pathetic noises as the knife began tearing his flesh. The man laughed, encouraging his pleas and shoving the blade down further into his cheek and face, being sure to leave room for another transmutation circle. And that's when Ed heard it, from another room. The squeal of a girl.

"Shut up!" The man momentarily paused in his carving. But the noise came again and Ed heard it painfully clear. He felt like he'd been smacked by a train. The voice was too familiar. _Winry_.

His torturer stormed out and returned, forcing a gagged and bound Winry forward. He threw her against a wall. "You sick son-" Ed forced himself up as much as possible before the man shoved him back, bashing his head with a metal chain. "Mm?" Winry studied him with panic filled eyes as blood ran down his face, blocking his vision and gracing his last images before oblivion.

When Ed woke up he was on the floor of the room, only chained to the wall by his neck, like a dog as usual. Gazing about, his eyes caught sight of her. Winry, lying face up on the ground in front of him. Her face was blank, her eyes clouded. She was covered in so much blood he could barely tell if she still wore clothes. Revulsion ripped through him and he felt his insides were burning. She was gone. And he was alone again.

"Disturbing isn't it?" The man stepped forward and picked up her arm, severed from her body mercilessly. "Here. I thought you would want a souvenir." he tossed her arm to Ed and the young alchemist ducked away from it as his stomach heaved. When the man finally left him, Ed was barely conscious, still chained to the wall, sobbing and rocking himself as best as he could.


	2. Arms of the Angel

Chapter 2

Roy Mustang walked into the building with his gun aimed at nothing. He was nervous. He really shouldn't have come alone, but the information on Ed's location was subject to change and he wanted to clear this theory quickly.

Heading down the basement stairs of the old house he found himself in an underground maze. The only sound was dripping pipes and a faint huffing. Like someone hyperventilating...or crying. Either way...

Moving slow, taking his time with his gun raised high, he maneuvered through the confusing halls. He should have left a trail to find his way back, but the sobs were desperate and pained beyond anything he had heard or known. It made him sick and he just had to find it, if only to make it stop.

When he finally came to the room though, he wanted nothing more than to disappear. Not two feet from him was Winrey, her arm sawed off, and her eyes vacant, half soaked in the blood she now lay in. An island in her own gore. Roy choked on his spit and looked away, only to face the sobbing victim. Ed. His automail arm and leg gone, he was chained to the floor, curled up as much as the bindings would allow.

Roy approached him carefully and nearly gagged as he saw the shaking boy, soaked with blood. He was cut up so much, blood pooled around him on the floor. Roy could see among the gashes there were also bruises where his torturer had grown bored and decided to simply beat him.

Roy tried to step forward more, but found himself unable to get past the shock. Ed was terrified and shaking violently. His sobs were in vain as you couldn't distinguish his tears from the bruises and blood, and his normally golden eyes where nearly all white in blind panic. He didn't seem to recognize his superior officer.

"E-E-...Edward?" Roy finally swallowed his pride and approached the poor boy, who was not yet responding. "Ed? It's Roy. I'm here to take you home." Mustang fought to control his voice as he realized the boy had little left to go home to.

Two eyes shot up from the wounded orphan. Roy choked again and walked carefully to Ed, bending down and gently reaching toward the full metal alchemist. Ed jerked away liked he'd felt fire. Roy withdrew his hand, unsure of what to do. Ed started to cry again, the muffled sobs tearing at Roy's normally cold emotions. "It's alright Ed. We're going to get you away from this psycho and it'll all be fine. It's going to be okay." He reached out again, only to have the boy wriggling, fighting the bonds, a panicked look in his eyes as he shook and whimpered. "I'm not gonna hurt you." Roy whispered, finally making physical contact, lightly laying a hand on Ed's hair. The boy shut his eyes and tears rolled down his face, the salty water stinging his cuts.

"God, what did he do to you?" Roy desperately wanted to calm Ed, but the boy remained cowering and trembling. For him, 'touch' had become a synonym to 'pain' and there was little Roy could do to convince him otherwise.

Roy jumped at the sound of a malevolent chuckle, making him stand, turning to face a grungy man, holding a chain.

Roy snarled, his anger flaring. It was much to damp in the room for his treasured flames, so he raised his gun. "You sick son of-" He shot several times, missing by a hair as the surprisingly quick man appeared behind him. "Too late."

The last thing he recalled thinking was how desperately Ed was looking at him when he hit the floor. He managed to get out a "Sorry." before the darkness took his senses and feelings.

The waking factor was Ed's screaming. Roy sat up in time to see Ed laying on a table before him, the man hacking away at his skin with a dull knife.

"What the-?" Roy fought the chains that now held him down as the man slashed at Ed's broken form.

"Oh, you're up." The man stopped and Ed continued screaming until the man gagged him, using another blood-soaked rag. Roy looked down at his aching stomach to see himself bleeding, his uniform torn.

Ed shrieked and struggled as the man held him down, knotting the cloth in his mouth.

"You really are too much." The man chuckled at Ed.

"You disgusting son of a bitch." Roy moved his hands down his back to a pocket hidden in his coat, pulling a needle out delicately he moved it around the chain carefully. It was be crude, but it would suffice.

"I'm not disgusting. I'm demented. Insult me correctly." The man laughed and grabbed a staple gun, lifting it above Ed's quivering hand.

"Hold still." the man snatched Ed's hand and held it on the table. He pressed down on the stapler and sickening snap echoed. Roy's protests were lost in Ed's shriek of agony as he felt his hand nailed to the table.

"Oh god." Roy could barely stand to look as the man casually dropped the gun and picked up a twisted chain and moving to Ed's side. Roy turned his head away in revulsion, temporarily distracted from his etching. He fought the need to puke as he heard Ed's cries of torment while the man began to beat him. That's when Roy began dry heaving and Ed's cries became unbearable to listen to.

It took a painful amount of minutes before the man gave up on his fun and left the room for the night. Ed had been ungagged and was now hyperventilating, begging for the pain to stop. Roy was nearly done. "Hold on kid. I'm gonna get you out of here."

"Oh, God. Make it stop. Oh, _Please_." Ed convulsed on the table top, desperately attempting to stop the agony.

"Hold on Ed. I'm almost..." Roy gasped as the chain broke, the transmutation circle forming it into a knife. He grabbed it in one hand while gripping his stomach, he got up, and rushed to the table. But Ed screamed in terror at even being approached. Roy carefully removed the staple from the young alchemist's hand, doing his best to ignore the boy's frantic need to get away from him. Mustang then went to work on the bonds which had already done their own damage, tightened to the point where they cut slits in his wrist and ankle.

When the bonds did break, Ed shied away and crashed off the table. For the first time Roy took in the true condition of Full Metal. He probably hadn't eaten decent in a few weeks and Roy could see he was exhausted. Mustang still had his military uniform, but Ed was shirtless in the freezing prison. Roy felt he didn't have much time until the man returned. He had to get them the hell out of there. He knelt and caught Ed, trying his best to avoid damaging him, but Ed cringed and was horrified at being trapped again.

"Please...not again...please just don't...don't!" Roy wrapped one arm around the alchemist and held Ed's arm to stop him from clawing. "...Oh god, _no._ I can't...No!...make it stop...please make it stop." Ed cried out, losing his breath once more and coughing up blood. Roy grimaced, the internal damage was worse than he thought. He wondered how long he had endured this kind of punishment. And then Ed was struggling to get free again. Roy shifted his weight and used his free hand to once again reach for Ed's hair, anxious to calm him. Ed flinched as he had before, and Roy spoke to him as tranquil as he could. "Shhh. It's okay now. You're going to be alright. I'm not going to hurt you." Ed still trembled constantly, but some form of reason that he recently lost fought its way back into his mind. This wasn't the man who had been hurting him.

"...Mustang?" He asked uncertain, his voice hoarse from screaming.

"Yeah. I'm here kid. You're going to be fine. I won't let him hurt you anymore." His voice was soft but there was something harsh and protective. He was greatly relieved when Ed finally relaxed- finally overcoming some part of his fear. Mustang gently released him. The boy cautiously turned and clung to him with his injured hand.

"Roy. Please help me. Please, God, _don't leave me_." The pain and sheer terror in his words forced Roy to hold back tears. He swore he would make that sorry son of a bitch burn to ashes. Slowly. He put an arm around Ed in a sympathetic embrace. The boy tensed for a moment, a part of his mind still commanding him to run, but then was reassured by Roy's presence.

Suddenly, the door to their prison swung open and Ed violently recoiled, pressing himself against Roy's shoulder, sobbing.

Ever since Ed's disappearance, the military had feverishly been searching for leads. Colonel Mustang's failure to report in was cause for alarm and several officers had been sent after him.

"Sir?" Lieutenant Hawkeye took another step into the darkness. "Colonel Mustang?" She was momentarily stunned when she saw the gore in the room.

"Get a medical team down here," Roy barked at her, "Now!" She nodded stiffly and sprinted back to the others. Roy turned to Ed who looked up at him, anxiety still shaded in his eyes. "You don't have to be afraid. You're safe now." Ed closed his eyes gratefully, and nodded. For once he felt lucky to be a dog of the military.

"_In the arms of an angel_

_Fly away from here_

_From this dark cold room_

_And the endlessness that you fear_

_You are pulled from the wreckage_

_Of your silent reverie_

_You're in the arms of the angel_

_May you find some comfort there"_


	3. Mending Scars

Please Review!

* * *

Roy Mustang trudged down the all too clean hallway, his hands deep down in his pockets and his eyebrows furrowed in thought. There was a guilt factor laid on Roy for having sent Full Metal on that goddamned mission in the first place. Of course the boy had been obstinate about it. He stopped in front of a window and leaned his head back, pinching the bridge of his nose in remembrance. 

_ "Roy, you bastard." Ed gripped papers in his hand, his anger evident, "Let me go on this one. It's not like I have anything left anyway." Grief was hidden by rage as full metal squeezed the assignment list harder ."Let me take this one"  
"You'll miss the funeral." Roy signed a permission form and handed it to Ed hesitantly. Ed snatched it and grunted, his tears finally showing how much he was secretly hurting. "Not if I hurry"  
_ He ran out, disappearing for two months.

Roy shook his head sadly, turning to the infirmary door with a sigh. How was he supposed to know Full Metal would get sidetracked on the mission and end up tortured mercilessly for months, coming back to not only a brotherless life, but a life without his close friend as well? He couldn't. Full metal had survived harder assignments and after a lot of thought Roy chose to make himself believe the reason for this failure had been Al's previous departure, weighing heavy on Ed. Nothing else.

He started to take a step in to visit the victim when he was roughly pushed aside. A black-haired, woman in deadlocks shoved past him and ran to Ed's bed. Upon seeing the severely injured alchemist recoil at her presence, the woman slapped him. Ed jumped backwards and flattened himself against the headboard.  
Roy rushed forward, drawing out his gloved hand, ready to protect Ed against whatever threat this woman posed, but there was none. For the woman immediately softened and embraced Ed with a sickeningly tight grip. Ed wretched in her grasp. Roy could see the animal like panic gloss over his eyes. It wasn't until the woman released him that he relaxed, looking into a loving and familiar face. "…Sensei?" He still sounded broken and hoarse, but it had been three days since his return to central and by now he could faintly calm himself enough to recognize friend from invisible foe.

Roy walked the rest of the way over to them as the woman started speaking, " Ed. What have you done?" Ed closed his eyes and crumpled into a ball. She knew damn well what he had done and what had been done to him. Al was dead and it was his fault. Hadn't he suffered enough for that sin?  
The woman finally sighed and straightened, looking to Roy. "I am Izumi, Ed's former teacher. I heard what happened…." She turned to Full Metal with a loving glare in her eye that reminded Roy of any disappointed mother. Roy motioned for them to leave the room.

"I can't believe him," she crossed her arms as she continued talking to Roy, "he tries to resurrect his brother and then goes as gets himself beaten near death." She shook her head angrily. "He has learned nothing. I taught him and Alphonse the punishment for pretending to be Gods and they refused to listen. Now, one of them is dead. I told him the horrors of being a dog of the military and he ignores me. Now he knows and fears the true nature of mankind."

Roy decided not to be offended by her total hatred of the military. He had seen too much to disagree. After Hughes's death, he had little pride left in his work. But his mission to become Fuehrer seemed the only way to gain retribution for the years he had sacrificed for the government.

"Excuse me." A young nurse stepped forward, interrupting their rather one-sided conversation. She held a tray with a variety of inoculations. Roy and Izumi followed her back into the room. "Ed, if you could just hold still-" the nurse carefully approached the young man, gently tapping an injection needle. She stopped short, though, as Ed began screaming, bolting off the bed with a terror in his eyes not easily put there or removed.

"Edward!" Izumi ran for him as the nurse tried to get there first.

"_No_! Not today! No more…I won't try it again...Please!" Ed clawed at the wall he huddled next to, as tried to get away from pain he knew too well.  
Izumi dove down to him, hugging him close."What the hell are you doing?" Izumi tried to talk above Ed as she glared menacingly at the nurse.

"N-n-nothing! It was just to stop infection and-umm- another to prevent tetanus…" the panicked woman trailed off as Ed collapsed, leaning into Izumi. He was overwhelmed and soon unconscious.

"Maybe you should save the needles for some other time." Roy took the syringe away from the shocked nurse as Izumi carefully put Ed back in his bed.

"No, do it now, while he's asleep." Izumi snatched the injections and pushed them into his upper arm. "There," She sighed, returning the vaccines to the nurse. "Now leave us."

The boy no longer looked horrified and desperate, but he was far from peaceful in his sleep. A disturbed and hurt look spread it's way into his features and he groaned horribly when they turned away. Roy was shocked when the boy's teacher lay down in the next bed, staring at Full Metal with a mother's fierce protectiveness. Maybe, the boy wasn't an orphan after all. After a moment, he shook his head and sighed, "I don't know how long you can stay in here if you're planning on moving in."

"If a tragedy occurs I'll sleep on the floor. In any case, I'm not leaving, colonel." she glared up at him with the same look he probably gave his inferior officers the day Ed was rescued. Seeing the wounded boy stirred something in people, a need to protect, and Roy would be damned if he tried to stop that. "Fine. I'll see what I can do. If you need anything, tell the nurse to let me know." the Flame Alchemist left, closing the door behind him with a satisfied grin, happy for once that his soldier was being taken care of.

* * *

_Edward Elric bit his lip, wincing still as the needle was dug into his chest. "You-you think a simple needle is going to-" and then he felt it. The man pushed the contents through the syringe into his skin, not going very deeper than the last layer of skin. "Oh, this isn't any old medical syringe my dear boy." the man bent over with a grin as he removed the needle, going back to the table for more formula. "This is filled with Nitric acid. I'm sure a skilled alchemist as your self knows what it can do to the skin"  
Ed gasped and fought his restraints as the acid started burning up through his skin and down into his nerves. His teeth buried themselves deep into his lower lip and he started to taste blood. The man retuned, shoved the needle back down, snickering at Ed's protests._

* * *

Ed opened his eyes in mid-yell. His vocal chords were extremely sore and it pained him to talk or yell, but right then it hurt him more not to. Izumi stood over him, holding a wet rag in the air, in the process of placing it on his head. Even though he was safe, in a hospital, he often had brief and not so brief panic attacks. The nurse had explained it was one of his body's more desperate ways to prevent damage. It was a fight or flight response and with the amount of adrenaline Ed had pumping through him, he was ready to do both. Izumi withdrew, sighing, "Ed, you're going to have to learn that I'm not the enemy. I'm not trying to harm you." Ed remembered her smacking him when she arrived, but didn't say anything. It hurt to talk. _Everything_ hurt. The drugs had long worn out and because of this moment of terror, hey had not been able to administer more. He whined and forced his rapid breathing to slow. He finally laid down stopped remembering long enough to let her wipe his forehead. He winced as the memory of the transmutation circle returned.

* * *

_The man leaned back after cleaning off the old marker stains. "Ready?" Ed was gagged and unable to protest so he settled on shaking his head violently, pulling at the chains as he gasped for air. For the past few weeks, whenever the man entered the room, Ed had begun hyperventilating. His inability to breathe only fueled the man's delight in hurting him. The man began to draw on his forehead again. Ed could barely stand the anticipation of torment filled his thoughts. How many more times could he take it? None he decided, but before he could even start to fight back, the man touched the sign and the unbearable suffering destroyed all thoughts._

_

* * *

_  
"Ed?" His teacher leaned over him, removing the rag. He closed his eyes and opened them again, "Sensei?" He looked to her with a desperate need she somehow understood. She pulled him up in a gentle hug, rocking him as he began to sob. "A-Al...I tried to...he's dead and I was..._I'm sorry_. I can't go on without him...I really _can't_...I just...I need him. He's gone and I can't-and Winry. She's gone too. _I'm so sorry_…" Ed closed his eyes, trying to speak around the horribly salty tears. Pain flooded through him. Even his teacher's embrace hurt, but he had nothing left to lose. Eventually he fell asleep in what he began to delusion as his mother's arms.

* * *

_ The man was coming back in, his smile shining in his dark facade. His breath was came in short terrified gasps. His head throbbed with the furious beating of his heart. Ed began to struggle against his constrictions, crying out as the man came a foot away, holding down his fighting arm, speaking, "You're going to have to stop _Ed. I'm not going to hurt you." 

His teacher held his arm down as he tried to take a swing at her. He lay there, stunned and panting as she looked away, "...Ed, I should have been there, or I should have at least trained you better or... I tried-I told you….you didn't listen." She moved to get up as he grabbed her hand, gripping it like a last lifeline to sanity. She back down. Slowly, she leaned near him and whispered, "_It's okay now. Its not your fault…_" She smiled as he closed his eyes, trying to sleep.

* * *

Roy sat up in bed, drenched in his own sweat, fighting his sheets. The same dream, the same damn images he kept trying not to picture as the memories returned. He rubbed his hands through his hair and stared at the floor, like he could see the level below him. This was too much. He got up and made himself a cup of coffee as the phone rang.

"Sir?" It was lieutenant Hawkeye, sounding tired and upset.

"Yes?" He took a sip of the caffeine and made a face.

"Are you alright?" as she asked, he remembered that she had moved in to central apartments soon after full metal's rescuing.

"I'm sorry, but you're the floor right above me and I could hear you yelling. I was just making sure that you were okay, sir."

"It's nothing. I'm fine. Goodnight, lieutenant." Mustang rubbed his eyes.

"…Goodnight, sir." she sounded almost as upset as he was.

* * *

"_Edward...Oh, Edward." The sing-song voice of the far too happy man made Ed shudder horribly. He knew the tone and the matching pain that would soon follow. As the dark figure entered the doorway, he could feel his leg convulse, his chest heaved and he subconsciously scrambled back, clawing at the metal ground for any hint of traction that might prevent the inevitable, "God no, please no…!" he held up his arm in defense as he realized struggling was pointless. He couldn't get out, and begging would only intensify his suffering. "Oh, Come now." the man yanked him up and smiled, holding an unlit match in between two unfeeling fingertips. "Not today, no more…" Ed again tried wriggling free, only to be thrown onto the table, his arm immediately pinned down with the strongest chord the man could get his hands on. "My favorite you know..." the man lit the match, smiling at it, before throwing it down onto Edward's bare chest. He screamed as flame touched flesh and as the small flare simmered to nothing. He could feel his skin, red beneath the agony of the fire. One match followed another and Ed lost count of the small divots they created in his chest as he screamed and thrashed, fighting desperately to get off of the table, to get out, to get back to his home, far back where his mother could hug him and hold him, and Al could make him laugh with his usually stupid ideas and antics. He wanted to go home, so bad it nearly blocked out the pain. _

* * *

"Sir?" Hawkeye saluted as the colonel walked in, his face serious with concentration.  
"In a minute lieutenant." He walked past her, right to the infirmary door.  
"Sir, I wouldn't-"

It was too late. Roy Mustang had walked into the room and stopped immediately. Ed, shirtless, and no longer fully bandaged, sat up in his bed, letting Izumi hand him some sort of pills. He swallowed them and looked up to see his head officer staring at him in shock. He tried to grin and ended up twitching, his mouth trembling. Roy didn't respond, his eyes transfixed on the patches of burns. How could he have missed them? It was clear as his own signature. He staggered back and ran out, sweat coming down in slow thin trails from his now aching head as he tried to forget the flashes that showed him what he never wanted.

"I think it's the days of the rebellion. They're coming back to him now that he sees you like this...he did some pretty horrible things." Hawkeye looked away from Ed's bruised and cut face, still matted with new blood every day. She didn't blame the colonel for running out like that.His burns were a clear reminder of past nightmares for him. And one sight of the barely living boy was enough to make even her run. She didn't know how his teacher could stand looking at him day after day, knowing how much he was suffering, nearly helpless to change anything. She shuddered and looked to see Ed, now asleep, his head in his teacher's lap as he groaned and flinched, remembering nothing but torture.

Hawkeye looked away, "I'll be going now. I have some papers to file and Ed needs his rest." She began to walk out when the strong voice of Izumi stopped her.

"Make sure your colonel is alright. I've seen this kind of guilt destroy someone. It isn't pretty. He's going to need some reason to stay alive before this all ends." The lieutenant stared for a moment, and then understood. She turned and ran out, heading the direction she last saw Roy take.

* * *

Ed woke for the third time that night, his heart thudding in his ears. It was dark in the room, dark enough for the memories to flood his mind. He whined and curled up in a ball. He didn't want to be alone. Being alone was more horrifying than any physical pain he had received.

"_Is anyone there?_" His voice was barely a whisper. His captor had often punished him for speaking.

"I am here." Izumi's voice was warm and familiar. So terribly close to that of his mother.

_"Sensei… I hurt."_

"I know."

_"I'm scared."_

"I understand."

His teacher sat down beside him on the bed and moved to embrace him. Ed had grown to appreciate the way she moved around him, always slow enough that he had time to react if he needed. Ed laid his head in her shoulder and she could feel the tremors through his skin. She wanted so much for him to feel safe, but such an emotion was hard for Ed to grasp. Being trapped had scarred his mind and a dreadful wariness flowed through him. Still, she was just grateful to have this injured, vulnerable creature in her arms. Perhaps she couldn't save her own son, but she could save someone else's. Ed's voice ended her thoughts.

"_Are you going to leave me?_"

"No."

"_Mustang left me-_"

"Edward, I want you to listen to me. I will not leave you. I will not betray you. You are safe and no one is going to hurt you ever again."

Izumi felt Ed's constantly tensed muscles begin to relax. He closed his eyes and she gently ran the back of her hand down the side of his face. She smiled when he gave no indication that he feared the gesture. She leaned against the headboard as Ed drifted to sleep. She hoped the young alchemist had _finally_ found some security in her arms. She had promised he was safe. Maybe, for once, he had listened.


	4. Apologies, apreciation, and agony

**A NOTE:** Hi Guys. Thank you so much for reviewing and showing your love, it's meant the world to me and Lizzy. But as we all know life comes at you pretty fast, and we apologize that we have not edited the story recently. We've both had a lot of things going on and this whole story has slipped our minds. I promise we're going to discuss new plot changes, and future chapters, but I can't make promises as to how soon those will come.

HOWEVER, because you all have been so wonderfully patient and helpful and since you seem to desperately want more I've come up with a little transitory material here to sate you with. Hope you like it, and you had better believe (that eventually) there will be more where this came from! Thank you again! We love you all too! (Those proposals have been pretty tempting. )

* * *

_Winry watched the shadows playing on the walls and cringed, trying not to listen to the_

_sounds coming from beyond the door. _

_She had woken to this darkness, and now, with the recognizably loud noises, she was _

_terrified of what would come next. Who would do that? What could be doing that? _

_Shuddering, she curled up into herself, fighting the chains, knowing that if she had only _

_listened to her grandmother instead of wandering out into the storm...if she had taken the _

_shotgun, or at least the dog...if she hadn't told the tall dark shape of a man what her name _

_was...maybe..._

_The racket from the other room assured her that hoping was useless. She could predict _

_what would come next for her if assumptions were right, and it absolutely horrified her. She was _

_next of course, though she would give anything to find out who else was here. _

_But it didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. She was going to die._

_She closed her eyes, starting to sob as she fell asleep to the lullaby of Ed's screams._

_

* * *

_

Edward Elrich watched the shadows playing on the walls and sighed, trying to listen to

what Izumi was telling Hawkeye, fighting the pull of sleep on his eyelids. He was tired of course,

he was always tired and he was sick of it. The bastard had made him weak, had made him cry,

had made him hurt, had made him...Ed shuddered. The man had scared him. No. Petrified him.

Izumi turned back to him, now drifting past the point of return, his mind telling him that

he was back in the stranger's clutches, back in the room. His senses told him to be scared, and he

was. His mind told him to find a way out, so he searched the four walls fervently, and he found

no escape. Panic at the approaching threat finally told him to scream, so he did, but that still

didn't do him any good. It never did.

* * *

Lieutenant Hawkeye practically tore the door down trying to get outside, and when she 

finally did, she could only stare.

Colonel Roy Mustang stood, his back to her, gun held loosely in one hand, staring out

over the roof to what lay beyond. She couldn't even concentrate on what the scenery beheld, too

scared for Mustang.

For a moment neither seemed to breathe, until she stepped forward, subconsciously

asking, "Sir...?"

For another moment, her boss didn't move. Then he turned, slowly and carefully.

Smiling as he eyed her, he bent down and laid the gun on the ground, where he slid it to

within inches of her feet.

She hid every emotion rebounding in her skull as she bent down and picked it up, still

watching the colonel.

"I wasn't...I really wasn't...I couldn't, y'know..." he smiled darkly, turning on his heels

to look over the edge, "It's far too long a drop. I'd hate to change my mind halfway there."

Cringing at the image of her boss, falling terrified into the pavement below, Hawkeye's

voice cracked out, "No, sir."

Roy shocked her with a laugh, and with that laugh still hiding in his unsaid sentences, the

colonel fell back onto his butt, closing his eyes with a sigh that pushed out of somewhere in his

diaphragm.

He waited until the lieutenant came over and sat down beside him before he asked, still

not looking up, "How's Fullmetal?"

(For Kellie, who likes it when they match.)


	5. Hope you're all happy

**ATTENTION:** Alright, here's the thing: _I NEVER MEANT FOR THIS TO GO MORE THAN 2 CHAPTERS PEOPLE! THERE'S ONLY SO MANY CRUEL THINGS YOU CAN DO TO A ONE ARMED PRETTY BOY ALCHEMIST!!!_ In fact I was thinking about ending it, only you guys are so damn flattering and huggable, and some dude pm'd me about this, so I feel obliged. Plus I'm in a whole fanfic mood thanks to Molly and the damn Shoebox Project, so I'm going to try and keep going with this for you guys, but Lizzy and I honestly don't know what to do with this plot, so it's gonna be a really really messed up next couple of chapters. But you asked for it, so we'll work something out...probably end up killing em all or something...

Anyway, here's a little bridge work to keep you warm at night while we work on new stuff:

Ed laid in the infirmary bed and worked on controlling his breathing. Roy had just come and gone, only sparing Ed five minutes as to prevent himself from puking. Mustang would of course NEVER admit to being sickened by something as commonly insignificant as a hurting boy, but Ed could see it in his face when the lieutenant looked at him, something in his throat seemed to contract and his face seemed to pale almost unnaturally. It seemed poor Mustang was finally breaking down. Too many years on the job at too young an age. Damn bastard might've finally reached his breaking point, and Ed envied him for it. Cause even as broken and tormented as he was, the important parts were still sane enough to haunt him, and his you-Holy Hell.

Ed jumped and pressed himself back against the painfully cold headboard.

The doorway. The hall...That shape.

A head had just appeared and gone, peeking in and just as quickly disappearing.

Him.

No. Couldn't b-Again.

The head once more popped in and vanished.

Moments later a soldier hurried across the doorway to the other side, where a head popped up once more, only a bit longer this time. And it was accompanied by a kind of low chuckle. A laugh.

Ed told himself he was being ridiculous. Paranoid.

But a part of him still gripped the sheets and broke out into a sweat.

It was him.

No damn coincidence could get the shape of a head that perfect, could master the swagger, the rock in the shoulders as the near limping gate moved him from place to place.

It was him. In a uniform.

"R-Roy!...S-S-Sensai!" Logic was lost on Ed now, and it never once occurred to him the man could both hear, and shut him up long before help even heard him yelling.

The head appeared in the doorway again. Just the head, as though the owner was hiding their body from sight as a casual afterthought.

Ed knew better.

"Did you need something, Edward?" The pronunciation of Edward made an old scar tingle.

Ed promptly hurled his lunch and breakfast up all over the sheets, so that when the head had disappeared and Sensai had arrived at his side he smelled like tomatoes, eggs, something like soup, and fear.

(this is dedicated to the guy who actually PM'd me about this. )


	6. Cold Sweat Suspicions

Alright, I just found out you can reply to reviews IN your fiction, which is pretty awesome, so i'll answer questions now.

**Shinigami109:** i'm hoping to answer such questions in the next few chapters. i'm going to be focussing on the guy and his motives now, so just be patient. thanks for asking!

**kjmarie:** sorry, but I really hate Rose so she won't be showing up in here. Plus, I haven't seen many episodes with her in them, and i don't really know the state of most characters in my version. Mainly i'm just trying to keep the focus on Ed, Roy, and Izumi. Winrey pops up too cause she affects a lot. good question though. did you have any theories as to what i would have done with her?

**Twilight Dragoness:** um...hmm...i guess I just watch a lot of creepy movies, and read fics. most of it's just kind of me trying to figure out what kind of body parts would you injure to evoke the reactions i want, and to what exteme do you mutilate that part? That part with the matches though, i have to admit i took from an episode of Buffy. Willow throws matches onto Angel and it's kinda cool.

**EdElricRules:** thank you for a thourough review!! good to know what you're thinking and wondering, but honestly, all those answers i'm trying to give in suspense, to kind of surprise you or something... Like i said before the man's going to be getting a lot more focus now, so you'll just have to keep reading. thanks though! let me know if you have anymore questions.

* * *

Roy examined the file and nodded to a soldier, sending him off to deliver the rest of the paper work so that Roy could have the full case report on his desk by the end of the day. "Colonel!" Hawkeye's unmistakable voice ripped the usual scuffling echoes of the hall outside, and Roy turned away from his men just in time to watch her crash into the room in a carelessness that was uncommon for her. 

"Lieutenant." he meant for the statement to mock her-and it did- only, beyond the disdain was a rising panic, because lord knew that Hawkeye didn't fall over herself often, and if she did, it was on no fault of a good day.

"Colonel! It's Elrich-"

Roy for the first time in at least a week, didn't wait for an explanation, didn't calmly take measures to prevent screw-ups, didn't even think. He just brushed past Hawkeye before she could finish speaking, and rushed off to the infirmary.

He had the sneakiest suspicion that today was about to go horribly wrong. In fact he couldn't even call it a suspicion. No, it was far to clever and sneaky to be a suspicion. It was merely this tingling in the nape of his neck that sent the pre-warnings of a cold sweat down by his ear occasionally, and to suppress a complete breakdown he had to keep telling himself it was nothing.

Unfortunately Roy Mustang didn't tolerate bullshit much, even his own.

* * *

Edward cringed as the nurse pulled his sheet back, folding it right there on the bed so she could carry it off to be washed. Tossing your cookies shouldn't have been that embarrassing. It might not have been in fact, if he hadn't screamed like that only a couple minutes ago.

"It's alright Edward, there's nothing to be ashamed of." Sensei took the unusually kind route today, saying things she normally wouldn't have, and reassuring a young man she knew wouldn't accept it.

"I'm not ashamed." Edward's head turned the other way, and the sporadic twitch in his hand told her otherwise.

"Edward-" she moved as if to sit down, and had to forcefully ignore his grimace. "what happened?"

Ed didn't respond.

"Edward?..." Izumi felt some strange, almost motherly part of her begin to panic a little, "Edward you're going to have to-"

"Nothing."

"What?"

"Nothing. Happened." that was it. Short, sharp, and utterly male, the response froze sections of her fear and gave her the strength to react as the old her would have, as Ed needed her to right now.

She slapped him.

"The hell it didn't. Something triggered your little panic attack just now and I'll be damned if you don't tell me what it was!"

Ed sat, face red and hand clenched as he seemed to search for words. He finally turned his stubborn little blonde head back to the wall, sulking it seemed.

And Izumi's old instincts died just like that.

"Edward-..." he seemed to tense at her voice, so she calmly stood, "I'll be back." She sighed and moved to leave as a nurse came in with more medical supplies she couldn't identify, and didn't really want to.

A yard from the door, Ed's voice stopped her, "You promised sensei."

Curiosity made her turn around.

"You said no one would hurt me ever again."

Izumi's blood actually started to move a little faster in her veins. Had she really said that?

She had to berate herself for saying such a thing, for making a promise she knew couldn't keep, to a boy who was far too damaged to know better.

She waited for more. He seemed to be done though, and she left for the safety of the quiet hall outside.

* * *

Mustang's hope started to beat back the cold sweat suspicion as he came to the hallway outside the infirmary and saw Izumi standing calmly, talking to her husband.

"What's happened?" He tried to remain calm as he stalked toward the two, knowing his face was flush and his expression less than calm.

Much to his surprise, Izumi shrugged and turned to him with closed eyes, as if the next words had to be chosen carefully.

When she finally looked at him, he was opening his mouth to repeat himself.

"It appears Edward doesn't want to talk about it..."she looked to the door on her left and the light from the windows behind her made the moment look surreal, "he's acting as terrified as he did the day you brought him in. He twitches and cringes as though I'm the enemy."

Roy shocked himself with his tone as he demanded, "So we have no idea what happened to him?"

"No, he just screamed and puked, and-..." There was something wrong with that look.

"And what?" Roy demanded, fully recognizing that he wasn't in charge right now at all, and composure wasn't called for.

Izumi held up her hand for silence as she stared at the floor, "...he reminded me of when I promised he would be safe-..."

Roy didn't need to see her face now to understand, "You think he feels threatened by something?"

Izumi sighed, nodding, "Yes, I think he might."

Roy's little cold sweat suspicion immediately started growing again, soon a full-fledged vision of nothing good. Nothing good at all. He might as well have slept in.

* * *

Edward didn't scream this time 

Heading down the hallway, Roy paused. A soldier was headed at him full speed, his red hair dark around the edges with sweat, his face a strange mixture of haste and scrutiny. It was as if he didn't know what to say to Mustang, unsure of his own footsteps when the two met in the middle.

"Sir!" he finally managed to sputter out, half saluting in his exhaustion.

"Corporal." Again, a statement riddled with back meanings that all summed up to: what do you want?

"Sir, it's fullmetal sir!"

"What about him?" Mustang's voice remained calm, but he knew by the other man's slight back step that his expression was much different.

"He's hiding in a closet sir. Luietenant Hawkeye and miss Izumi sent for you!"

"Dammit." without meaning to, Roy's hands moved out of their pockets to clench, "He had better have a good reason to." in other words: this had better not be like two days ago, with the screaming and the stubborn silence.

"He was crying sir, said something about a man."

"What man?" it was barked out and Roy didn't care about the flinching.

"Just a man, sir. No specifics."

"Well, let's go then." This terrible habit of irrational heroics was going to get him into trouble as it was developing into full-fledged instinct.

With the soldier taking off in what Roy assumed was the right direction, he had no choice but to follow and hope that this little adventure was worth his while.

Still, Roy couldn't help but notice that the soldiers they saw on the way down seemed completely normal, at ease. It was as if they didn't know about what was happening with fullmetal.

"Almost there sir." the soldier called back, keeping just ahead with a pace that shocked Roy, coming from such an older looking body.

When they finally reached Roy's office though, he didn't really think about that. Or anything else actually.

"There's no one here, corporal." he turned on the soldier with a slow kind of rebuke, tired from running and panicking and being jerked around one too many times.

The corporal didn't seem to care how slow Mustang was, he was still looking around terrified at the empty room, "They were just here! I swear I saw them all by your closet sir!"

Roy paced over to the door and opened it, noting how oddly heavy it felt, yet how familiar. For a brief nostalgic moment he thought of crying in there when he first found out about Hughes' death. He hoped his comrade would forgive for the poor job he was doing with fullmetal's situation. He wasn't good with this people thing.

"They must have gone back to the infirmary." he brought a hand up to his eyes, rubbing away the tired itch that twinged along with his paranoia when the soldier stepped up abnormally close behind him, with a presence that didn't exactly reek of fear anymore.

As he was pushed and locked into his own closet by the heavy hand of the soldier, the only thing Roy thought was how utterly clueless even the smallest suspicion could apparently make you. Well, that and how much he wanted to hurt the bastard.

**I tried to make this one longer for you guys. Hope you like it, but I'm thinking of changing it, so please critique it as much as you can if you review!!!**

_This chapter is dedicated to Brad Pitt for being really awesome in Fight Club, and to Lizzy for stealing it for me._


	7. Need to Know Basis

EE! I've decided that all your feedback is better than drugs, and you've all been so awesome and made me so happy with all those good reviews, that I decided to make a little 4th of July eve miracle and...UPDATE!! at least a little bit.

But first: to answer your general questions from the reviews: yes, Roy is locked in a closet. yes, action is coming up soon. and I basically tried to make Roy kind of panicked and distant so the whole getting locked in a closet thing would kind of make sense? oh, well. i'm too lazy to go back and change it. it all makes sense in my head...

* * *

There wasn't much left to do, wasn't much left to think. Ed was gone, Roy was nowhere in sight, and without any idea about what was going on whatsoever, Izumi felt helpless, something she did NOT like to feel when it concerned her pupil, her-…

The teacher, now feeling old rubbed her forehead and looked once more at the mangled bed sheets and floored pillow where Edward had obviously made a last stand for his sanity or-she shuddered-his life. She felt old, and the previous thoughts she just now blocked were bearing too close on the edge of her mind.

Edward wasn't her son, and though it was natural to feel close to him, she refused to dishonor the mother they sacrificed so much to bring back by trying to make him feel like he was. Or even letting herself think he was.

Oh, it was time to end this trail of thought.

She studied the scene before and tried to imagine exactly how large the other man would have had to have been.

"Izumi" her husband's soft voice echoed from the doorway, and she turned to see him, his shadow bearing the automail.

"We should have reattached them while we had the chance." She lamented, bitterly.

"Edward wasn't completely stable, you did what you thought was best….you-you couldn't have know-…" he trailed off even as he seemed to realize his mistake and Izumi reeled on him, stalking ever closer to his nervous frame as she ranted,

"But we did know! We saw this coming the moment his panic started back up! I told Roy! I said Edward was scared of something. I saw how Edward was reacting…I should have seen this coming."

"But-" far from stupid, Sig still had trouble grasping exactly what was going on with the boy, what was going on here where so many things happened and so many people left, not coming back.

Not coming back.

He no longer needed to finish that sentence.

He didn't need to know what she thought had happened to Ed, he didn't need to figure out how to find him or get him back. He didn't need to find Roy. He simply had to wait for his wife, and follow where she led.

"Sig," Izumi's voice was far too calm when she spoke, and therefore, far too dangerous, "Sig, we're going to get him back."

That was all he really needed to know.

_(This chapter dedicated to the "seiyuu.info" website, for finally helping me figure out Izumi's husband's name. )_


	8. Comfort and corpses

1Okay, I will update in a second after I've found the guy who programmed WordPerfect and I've sufficiently punched him in the jaw. Who's frustrated? Not me...**GOOD, AND SIMULTANEOUSLY BAD **NEWS:Lizzy and I FINALLY figured out who the man is going to be. (And no, it shows no lack of credibility or genius that we strung you all along on a plot line without knowing the ending ourselves.) The problem is we told a better author, and she said there's NO WAY we can do it slumps But we decided we're going to anyway, because if you read the other chapters you'll find things that don't really add up to begin with. So SCREW IT!! We're gonna blow your freaking minds with this SUPER TWISTED plot twist of DISTURBING-IMPROBABLE-NESS and it'll be awesome. **BASICALLY:** after this update, we are going to be editing current chapters while we figure out how the hell to finish this, and we'll have new stuff up in about a month I think.

To sate yourself over I recommend THE SHOEBOX PROJECT by Lady Jaida & Dorkorific. And because I'm feeling shameless, if you want more angst or disturbing character flaws I have 2 other fics up on this site you can check out.

On to review replies!!!!

_**EVERYONE IN GENERAL**_ thank you all so much for supporting us and encouraging us. It's nice to know if we ever need to know things like the name of a silly unimportant character we can rely on you. In the future I shall turn to you all with whatever ridiculous questions I may have. hugs you all with appreciative love of your awesome review-fullness

**CaRiMaiLSKiTTleS****--**I know! It's confusing isn't it? The show doesn't put enough emphasis on him. sulks Glad I'm not the only one misinformed. Thanks for reading!

**ooOAnimeChildOoo– **Oh, well thank you for finally getting around to it. I always love hearing about more readers, you guys are like my bread and butter. 3**  
Creator-Chaos --**Oh, I'm sorry I'm making you cry, but I try and make it a little better for awhile. Y'know, before the REAL horror starts. But thanks for still reading, I'll try and throw in some fluff for you.

Well, the obsession's part of the whole character, and I'm sorry that's a little creepy, but I can promise you that under NO circumstances am I letting Ed get raped. I mean, it gets to a point where you just need to LEAVE A CHARACTER ALONE, no matter how adorable and squee provoking the resulting comfort scenes are.

**celestial-gal – **hooray for angst!!! Yes, I do believe Edward is heading down a dangerous road of mistrust, but do you think the character could really learn to hate Izumi? I'm really struggling with that, I mean, she's the closest thing he has to a mother...hmm...thank you for your thoughts.

**Aura of Twili — **Hehe, the beauty of this madman is that he plans for EVERYTHING, because he knows them so well you see. (And yes that was a really obvious hint) Metal doors can melt? I thought there was a fireproof metal that they used for those safety boxes? I'll go look that up...thanks for your thoughts.

**EdElricRules– **laughs aw, I could NEVER put Izumi in a cupboard. She'd kill me!! Thanks for reviewing.

**FMA lover912--**thank you! I'm sorry I can't reveal too much at this point, but if you liked it then I suppose I'm doing something right. Maybe I should be a little more revealing inother chapters, I just HATE those silly mysteries you might as well not read cause the ending's so OBVIOUS. Glad you're enjoying our lack of informing-ness though.

**HisokaYukiko**– Alright, the current situations are: Edward has disappeared because the man took him. The man locked Roy in a closet, and Sig and Izumi are gonna go all "Eric Draven" on the man's ass and get Ed back. What else were you confused about?? Should I should clarify more things when I edit? Thank you for letting me know. I'd love to help if you're still confused about anything.

**radcat38 **--the editing? You like it? Thank you! 3 I'll tell Lizzy, since she's technically the beta here.

**AkitaFallow --** I'm sorry this wasn't in time for your vacation. I know how an up-dateless trip is, and I feel for ya. But never fear, we're getting right on it. Who knows? We might even get another new chapter up before the summer's over!

_And now for a random bit of obscene reminiscing and terror:_

Edward writhed on the floor, trying to run into something. Into anything, just hoping he could make some noise, get someone to hear him.

But what if no one could hear him? He didn't even know if he was near anyone, if he was alone...

Terror slowly began seizing at his windpipes as he choked on the gag, beginning to seizure in the dark. If the man came in with the marker he might as well die.

This was so familiar and so foreign all at once.

Familiar.

The word brought up obscure memories of a different type of existence, one where nothing hurt, and it didn't seem that anything ever would. It was just him and his brother, his mother watching them from the kitchen window as they ran about the yard. Each of them held an airplane they transmuted from scrap metal. Each of them held a little bit more than an airplane in the Sunday morning sun.

Up the path they would hear the flutter of fleeing birds as Den ran up the path with Winry close behind, both looking slightly excited.

"Ed!" the girl called as their approach grew imminent, "Edward, I forgot to tell yo-"

Edward woke up on his side, shuddering and trembling in the concrete room.

Winry was dead. Winry was dead because the man killed her. The man killed her because...

'To get to me,' Edward thought with another full-bodied tremor, 'because she was affiliated with ME.'

He lay in the dark now, not shuddering, not twitching, not even moving. He lay still and imagined that Winry lay near him now, maybe bloody and maybe not. He imagined that she got up. God, he could see the swish in her dress and she turned once around, before seeing him and smiling, "Edward, you've got to get up. We're going to see your mom now. She's going to be so happy to see you...Edward? Edward get up!" his hallucination bent down and pulled lightly on his torn shirt. Soon she was full-on tugging him, straining on the floor to make him rise, "Edward please, Please get up," her voice strained, "She wants to see you! Ed, please, do it for me! Ed..."

Then she wasn't saying anything anymore.

It was silent, it was dark; and everything--his teacher, his brother, his friend, his colonel, his mindless delusions–had left him, fleeing for greener pastures. Preferably ones far away from here where you could run and roll and jump and holler and throw things with absolutely no one to reprimand you. No one to stop you and your brother from tossing a ball back and forth, or sneaking into a nearby house library and reading up on all you can, soaking in the words before you get caught.

For another hour or so, Edward wasn't in the building. He was out roaming train tracks with his brother, the sun shining down gently on the wavering grass that lined their path, in desperate need of a trim, yet completely perfect. If no one ever came and tried to cut it, it would be too soon.

Ed teased his younger sibling about the butterflies he was watching the boy chase, but after awhile he ran with him, joining in the hunt.

If they knew anything else but the simple thrill of following summer insects they didn't think on it. Ed only knew he was pounding along the wood and steel, falling and scraping his knee and transmuting a scrap of paper into a band-aid, even if it wasn't needed, just because he could. Just because his brother was watching and not even a small boyish bruise was going to ruin this day.

Then he was alone in the dark.

But not alone.

A door somewhere to the left had opened, shedding just enough light for him to see...

Winry's body really was there, turned on it's side to face him, eyes still glazed and staring.

For a moment he thought how it was curious that her wide blue eyes didn't blink. Not even when the flies looped up and resettled back down on the whites, washing themselves calmly.

One of the flies flew over to him and sat on his nose for a moment, then rejoined his comrades on Winry's disgusting face.

They didn't even notice Ed was there.

"Get up Elric." A new man was here, not the same one from before, but just as intimidating. In fact, the deterrent sense he carried with him was familiar. The confidence in his step and the swagger in his motions had confronted Ed before.

Now, he was turning on a light so the full sight of Winry's decaying corpse could wash over his victim.

With a proper view of the flies, Edward stopped thinking about his new captor and lost himself in counting them. There were an awful lot of them actually. Edward hazily thought he must have been recovering for quite awhile, because Winry's face was already past simple discoloration, a little bit of it rotting slightly, red and black and something like yellow, and all of it kind of mixing in this horribly lifeless palette that someone had painted on her.

Like a horrible accident he couldn't get enough of, she lay deteriorating before his eyes.

Maybe it was the sense of home that her vacant, ruined features brought up, or the way the flies made it look so needed. So purposeful. It was a home right? A living ground for them, and there were so many, intermingling with what he could see as maggots, crawling in and out of her blood-caked arm socket. They looked tiny and insignificant and a bit like grubby snow, even if they were tinged yellow.

Winry was providing for something, even when she was dead. That was so like her, he thought bitterly.

The more he stared at the corpse, the more he got the sense that it was going to get up, just like in his dreams. He could feel it twitching ghostly down somewhere by his hand.

When the new man took the gag out of Edward's mouth, the alchemist didn't scream; probably because he couldn't. Instead he rolled onto his stomach and lapsed into a fit of dry heaves, trying to vomit something up out of his empty stomach.

Once he stopped he kindly smiled up and in a half-crazed tone requested, "Kill me. Oh god, kill me."

**I officially dedicate this to our brothers in fandom who currently suffer under the injustice of LiveJournal.**

(Agh!! curls up in chair defensively I've actually creeped myself out now. I mean, typing it, I knew it was getting disturbing, but I just couldn't stop...ugh. I think I'm gonna go read some Sirius/Remus fluff now. You should all go do something similar. Eat chocolate and what have you. hides under the covers)


	9. Water and then NOTICE FOR READERS

**Apparently this has to have fic in it. So here's a "drabble" so we can get to the really important stuff:**

Roy's sweat cloyed heavy on his forhead, and with an angry grunt, he slammed himself against the door. The ensuing laughter from the other side was not encouraging. Neither was the water which he quite suddenly felt pouring down the wall before him.

"What?" reaching out he felt the sheets of liquid moving like glass. A waterfall tight to the room's boundaries and quietly wetting his glove as it ebbed around it's intrusion.

"What is this?!" he shouted, slamming two gloved fists against the wet door.

There was more laughter, and then "Haven't you guessed?"

* * *

SoI haven't updated in...awhile.

I'm a horrible horrible horrible person, and I know you all probably hate me and want to lock me a room with the strange man have him do horrible things to my womanhood and so on…but I'm here now and I'm apologizing from the bottom of my little black heart. You have all been so amazingly supportive and your love of this fic and the plot line have really made me all warm and fuzzy inside.

**HERE'S THE THING:**

I'm on LJ now…so yeah. That's why this has not been updated for so long, and why it probably will not be.

In light of this, I realize I cannot just leave you guys hanging, so you all --lovely and amazing as you all are-- have two options regarding how I finish the horrendous, cute little monster that is this fic:

**OPTION 1:** I don't write the next part and instead give you a fairly detailed summary of what I would have had happen. This would include the identity of the bad guy, possible future fics, etc. etc. This would of course be posted in the next month at the latest.

**OPTION 2:** I keep writing this and finish it out like an actual fic and you all are subject to month or so long periods of waiting/possible aggravation while I make myself write Anime fic.

**OPTION 3:** this is basically either one of the previous two options, only I ALSO clean up the fic and post it to my LJ, which I'll link you to…

Actually I think I'm going to do that anyway… Nevermind option 3. _Ignore please._

I don't care how this goes, I 'm pretty much comfortable with either of the two. Either way, I'm going to re-write this whole thing eventually, so this is only a matter of sating you lovely people while I do that. Because I know how shitty it is to be kept waiting and I hate to do that to you guys.

**_SO PLEASE LET ME KNOW_** …otherwise there won't be an ending, and that would suck XO


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